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XM Satellite Radio Tops Five Million Subscribers Tuesday September 27, 7:00 am ET

WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- XM Satellite Radio today announced that it recently surpassed 5 million subscribers, increasing its lead as the nation's number-one satellite radio company.

"With more than five million subscribers today, XM continues to expand its position as the leader in the satellite radio industry," said Hugh Panero, XM Satellite Radio President and CEO. "We are on track to have more than six million subscribers by the end of this year. Consumers are choosing XM because we offer the most choices, including the most commercial-free music and live sporting events, and the most advanced technology. With the winning combination of outstanding new channels and breakthrough products in advance of the holiday season, XM is poised for record growth during the fourth quarter."

Upcoming XM programming highlights include comprehensive coverage of Major League Baseball playoffs and the World Series, the debut of National Hockey League games on XM, and the launch of Take Five, a new 24-hour talk radio channel aimed at women, featuring satellite radio broadcasts of high-profile programs such as "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."

Add to this one all the DirecTV subscribers... I'm not sure what channels are going (I assume probably their in-house produced channels, like the on line stream) Eric Logan has said that High Voltage (Opie & Anthony and Ron & Fez) will be one of two talk channels going to DirecTV (I'm assuming XMPR will be the other one?)

OK - I have to ask - Ronald Epstein - why are you so HOT on XM. Do you have stock in them or something? I mean - honestly - there is not THAT big of difference in the two to be such an XM cheerleader (not a cut - just an expression).

It has been pretty well established that he's had both, and at the end of the day, he prefers XM. He used to be negative in the Sirius threads, but he's chilled out since then.

As one who has also owned both, I tend to agree with Ron's assessment. At the same time, tho, I don't think either of us would like to see Sirius go away. Sirius does serve a certain crowd, and is certainly territory that I wouldn't want XM to persue.

Both companies seem to be doing rather well. With Stern and the NFL Sirius will grow at a much faster pace then XM. However they have alot of catching up to do. I cant post links (yet) but there is a good article over on forbes.com to check out.

I hope both of them stick around, competition is where its at. Coke vs. Pepsi, Nike vs Reebok, Nicole vs. Paris, only helps the consumer.

Owner

As co-owner of this forum, I often interject my honest personal views and experiences when it comes to the quality of products and services I use. Most members in this forum know that if I recommend a product or give a "thumbs down" to another, there is a trusted reason behind that decision.

I have given XM and Sirius a very fair shot. I was very down on Sirius' music programming from day one and made no secret about it on this forum and others. In fact, I was part of a rather growing group of individuals that were trying to encourage Sirius to open up their playlists instead of broadcasting the same songs on a daily basis.

Sirius took notice of this website and the negative press I was giving them. They invited me to their studios. They let me do a guest radio show. Without going into further details, the entire visit turned into a disaster. It was apparent that Sirius was looking for positive press from this forum instead of looking out for their guest's best interest.

That experience, coupled with other things that I was hearing about management practices when it came to handling their Press (many of it leaked from Opie and Anthony), made me realize that XM was the service to support.

I wish Sirius the best, I really do. However, I had the opportunity to judge the company first-hand, and I wasn't very pleased with the outcome. It would be very uneasy for me to be a cheerleader for them.

On the other hand, I have never disallowed anyone from touting the benefits of Sirius on this forum nor posting press releases related to that company.

I do want to say that sometimes, XM runs into the same problems. There are some people there who don't seem to want to listen to what their listeners want. Granted, sometimes what they want is contradictatory, but there are some channels on XM which are in pretty bad shape, and XM doesn't really seem to want to address those issues.

It is still far better than what Sirius is doing, but it does leave me frustrated that Satellite Radio isn't quite living up to its promise.

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All the channels I listen to ('60s-'90s, Mix, Blend, Top Tracks, Cinemagic, Broadway) all play a very diverse blend of music with very little repetition.

I am just curious as to what channels you find are in bad shape? They may be ones I don't listen to.

By the way, XM is re-running "IT" which started on the '50s channel and is making its way towards the '90s (currently playing on the '70s as of today). For those who don't know, "IT" plays every single charted music recording throughout four decades. "IT" gives you an idea of the extensive library of music XM has compared to Sirius.

I only listened to XM for about an hour (one of my friends had it last year) and I have had Sirius for about 4 months so my opinion will be jaded a bit so forgive me.

I listen to about 10 music channels on Sirius and the only one I notice song rep on a daily basis is the current "hits" channel. I have 10 of my favorite songs saved so that when they come on again I am notified and they rarely come on. They arent obscure songs (IMO) and I may hear one or two of them once a week if I am lucky.

I believe you guys when you say XM's music library dwarf's Sirius but I just dont see how important for me it is. Every day I listen to my sat radio I am pleased to hear a song that I havent heard in years/decades and even more pleased to hear of bands that I have never even heard before.

I hope both companies do well, however I do think one will come out on top and dominate the market in the next few years.